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Georgia Workers? Comp Compliance

November 29th, 2006 Posted by Mark

They always say that “Georgia is on My Mind.” I lived there for a bit back in my youth, and I go back to visit every once in a while. And lucky for me, I did not get injured while I worked there. It’s not that the state doesn’t have a workers’ comp system. It does. I just don’t like getting injured. I faint at the sight of blood.

Kidding aside, I figured while we are on the topic of workers’ comp systems in the different states of the Union, I would give Georgia employers and anyone else interested a quick history lesson on workers’ comp in the state. In Georgia, workers’ comp used to be known as workman’s comp, because really, it was only men who were supposed to benefit from it. But it wasn’t but several years ago that the state officially changes the laws on the books so that it is clear that women and men can receive benefits under workers’ comp insurance.

Both sexes now are entitled to workers’ comp in Georgia as soon as they have completed their third month at an employer. In Georgia, as in other states, it is not the job of the employee to prove that someone or something else was at fault for their injuries on the job. Workers’ comp doesn’t work like, say, if a patron in one of your restaurants slips in the bathroom and tries to sue you.

Instead, with workers’ comp in Georgia, if an employer is hurt while he is working on the job for you, and working in your “best interests,” then under the workers’ comp laws you the employer are required to pay them their compensation and medical costs for their injuries and time off from work.

However, employers should note that in Georgia, working “on the clock” does not include time employees spent coming to and from work, or during their breaks.